Technical Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to systems and methods for performing engineering design and analysis.
Discussion of the Background
Current engineering software does not allow more than one user to operate on a file at the same time, and is strictly single-user, where design, analysis, and manufacturing planning are sequential. Files are often very difficult to translate between formats required by various CAx tools directly, so there may be data loss due to tolerance mismatch and object definition inconsistencies.
Some CAx software allows users to create designs and perform analyses from within the same software. However, this still results in separate models—one for design, the other for analysis, where data must often be simplified and translated.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart depicting a typical prior-art design and analysis work flow. As depicted, the work flow includes designing 10 a model of an engineering object, exporting 20 to a CAD interchange file, importing 30 into an FEA (Finite Element Analysis) Tool, de-featuring 40 the CAD design, defining 50 mesh and boundary conditions and simulating, exporting 60 analysis data, and communicating 70 to CAD user. The depicted operations are typically performed by engineers, with little automated assistance from CAD software or workstations. Although the depicted operations focus on design and analysis, other CAx operations such as manufacturing planning have similar workflows.
Designing or redesigning 10 a model of an engineering object may include various operations such as creating a CAD model using CAD software, or modifying a pre-existing model in the case of a design modification. Exporting 20 to CAD interchange file may include commanding the CAD software to export the model in a file format compatible with the intended analysis tool.
Importing 30 into the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) tool may include importing the exported CAD interchange file. De-featuring 40 CAD design may include removing features that aren't essential for the analysis or that interfere with analysis. In some workflows, de-featuring may be performed in the CAD software before export.
Defining 50 mesh and boundary conditions and simulate may include using the analysis software to define loads, or other boundary conditions such as flow rates, etc., as well as to provide adjustments to the mesh generator to improve performance or accuracy. Then the simulation or analysis is performed using FEA software or the like.
Exporting 60 analysis data may include commanding the analysis software to export the analysis data, possibly for analysis using stand-alone data visualization software. Communicating 70 to CAD user may include communicating a file showing the visualization result, or communicating a summary of suggested changes to the CAD model that would improve its simulated performance.
As is apparent from the steps above for a single iteration of analysis and re-design, the time-consuming effort of exporting, importing, setting up the model for analysis and the like represents time that could be better spent doing engineering. The embodiments disclosed herein were developed in response to these issues.
Given the foregoing, what is needed is an environment where multiple users from various disciplines can work together without constant inter-discipline translation and thereby achieve a greatly streamlined CAx workflow.